Christmas Goodies

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
and I am loving it!

This is my most favorite time of the year!

So tonight,
to start off the Christmas holiday I have found a few
really fun recipes for you.

Ok, first recipe.
These are just adorable.
I present to you...
Christmas Tree Velvet Cake Pops



Wouldn't these little cake pops be perfect to take to a Christmas party?
A little time and patience are required to make them, but
I can guarantee your dessert will be the highlight of the party.

Serious cuteness.
Click here for the recipe.

Next, an easy recipe
{for those of us without the time or patience to make the Christmas Tree Cake Pops.}

Ever heard of Puppy Chow?
I'm sure you have unless you live under a rock.
Well this recipe is basically the same thing, but
it's called Reindeer Chow during the holidays!
{I love this stuff}



Here are the 4 ingredients you will need.
I know, I like easy recipes too!


{Crispix Cereal, Peanut Butter, Confectioner's Sugar, & Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels}

You need:

5 cups of Crispix Cereal
1 cup of peanut butter
12 oz. package of semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 box of confectioner’s sugar

Wanna make them?

-Melt chocolate in microwave 1 minute at a time until melted.
-Add peanut butter to melted chocolate and mix well.
-In a large bowl {with a snap on lid}, add melted chocolate & peanut butter
to top of cereal and mix well.
-Add confectioner’s sugar and cover bowl with lid.
-Shake well to coat thoroughly.

If these two recipes aren't sweet enough for you, I think this will do the trick.

Have fun baking! Goodnight!

Mr. Climber

Noah is a busy, busy boy. He is con-stant-ly on the move, getting into this and that and climbing on anything he can. In fact, I think climbing has become a new hobby of his. He loves it. He sure does keep me on my toes, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Let me show you a few pictures of our little climber.

Noah on the top shelf of his hutch.
He pulled everything off the shelf and climbed right on in.

Every time I pull the dishwasher door down to load dishes,
I can expect my little Noah to be right there.
He climbs right up and pulls all of the dishes out
{that I have already put in}
and places them on the counter.
He is only trying to help, right? Silly boy!



I know I showed you this picture before,
but it's just too sweet of him not to post again.
He has learned to climb on the chair all by himself,
and you can tell he is pretty proud of himself. Ha.

There's no stopping him now! What a fun {tiring} age 15 months is! I love every minute of it.

A Few of My Favorite Things

I love shopping, but when it comes to black friday, I would prefer to do my shopping another day. You are one brave soul if you are getting out tomorrow to shop. I personally am not. Instead I am spending the day with my two sisters, my mom, my aunt, and my grandmother to help my sister, Abby, find the perfect wedding dress. And Noah gets to join all the girls tomorrow. Haha. I'm sure he is thrilled about it. I am really excited to see Abby try on dresses tomorrow, and you can bet I'll have my camera tucked away in my back pocket to get some pictures of her. Ahhh wedding dress shopping... what an exciting time for her. So I guess I am technically going shopping tomorrow, but hey, if we find the perfect dress it will be worth it, right?

Anyway, I decided to change things up a bit this year and do most of my Christmas shopping online {something I never thought I would do}. Last year around Christmas time, Noah was three months old so it was still pretty easy to get out and shop. But not this year. Nope. Trying to shop with a very active little toddler is, well, one word sums it up: impossible. In fact, it stresses me out. So I decided this year do the online shopping thing, and I absolutely love it!

I thought since tomorrow is a big shopping day, I would share with you some of my favorite things that I have found while shopping online.

Cute decorative Christmas pillows. So much fun!

Something for the guys.

Vintage stuff is the best.
I like this personalized vintage
typewriter key money clip very much.

Look at these precious little things! Elf baby booties!

These wrist keychains are perfect for those who
can't keep up with their keys. That's totally me!
I love all of the bright colors.



I can't get enough of these coffee cozy sleeves.
Perfect little stocking stuffer, don't ya think?



I love these personalized ornament boxes.
What a cute little gift for a new baby.



I hear purple is the hot color right now.
How cute is this neck warmer?



A perfect gift for The Beatles fan.
Who would have thought The Beatles would
finally go digital on... a USB stick?



I love Mary Jane shoes for little girls, so when
I came across this stocking I was smitten.
I wish I was creative enough to think
of making a Mary Jane stocking. Seriously.



Personalized bag tags = A-d-o-r-a-b-l-e!



A little something for the dog lover.
I think Einstein would look pretty good in this mistletoe hat
{i don't know though, it may not fit his chubby little head}.



Want to spice up your gifts?
These gift hang tags will do the trick.

Of course, the best gifts are always priceless.
What a sweetie!

Whew! That's enough shopping for tonight. I'm worn out! Haha.

Goodnight!

Bye Bye Sickness & Chocolate Peanut Butter Krispies

We are back home from our trip to Amarillo. We enjoyed our visit, as always, and we loved seeing all of our family & friends. It's always hard leaving our home away from home, but it was actually a little bit easier coming back to Fort Worth this time.

Poor Noah was so sick while we were in Amarillo. But today was a much better day for him. He was walking all over the house, smiling, and playing, and overall seemed to be back to his normal self. I have never seen him in so much pain before, so we are so thankful he is feeling better, and hope the worst is behind all of us {from the looks of this sweet little face I think it is}.

While we were in Amarillo, my mother-in-law Gay Lynn, made the best dessert in the world: chocolate peanut butter krispies. Ahhh, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Yummmmy! So I thought I would share the recipe with you since this dessert is too good to keep a secret.

What you need:

1 package of peanut butter cookie mix
1 jar of marshmallow cream
1 (12 oz.) package of chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter
3 cups of cocoa krispies

How to make it:

-Mix the cookie mix according to the directions,
& pat the mix into a 9 x 13" pan.
-Bake until lightly browned {10-13 minutes}.
-Cool completely.
-Spread the marshmallow cream
over the top of the baked cookie.
-Mix chocolate chips & peanut butter and melt in microwave.
-Add cereal to the chocolate chip & peanut butter mix
and then spread on top of marshmallow cream.
-Serve when cooled.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

To the Doctor We Go

Our poor little guy is sick. Really sick. Today Noah went to see Dr. Fletcher, and we found out he has two ear infections and a sore throat. My heart breaks for him; he has felt awful. Hopefully with some rest, antibiotics, Tylenol, and kisses from Mommy, Daddy, Grammy, and Papa, he will be back to feeling better very soon!

You might have noticed I mentioned Grammy and Papa {Josh's parents}. Well that is because we are in Amarillo right now visiting them, along with uncles Joseph & Quentin. We only wish sweet little Noah was feeling better, but we are having a wonderful time together as a family.

I can't believe Thanksgiving is this Thursday! November has just flown by. Enjoy your short school/work week.

Noah & the Big Announcement

Ok.

It's confession time.
Noah and I may have cheated a little bit.

We had 3 drawings, but hold on, let me explain.

I never realized how difficult it would be to have
Noah pick the winner. I'm telling you it was a challenge!

Drawing #1
I gave him the basket of names hoping he would just pick one.
Nope, he turned the basket upside down and all the names fell out.
So everyone "won" on the first try.
But I'm sorry to say that I'm just not rich
enough to buy everyone coffee & a cozy.
So, on to drawing #2...

Drawing #2
The basket remained upright this time, but
Noah still thought there needed to be more than
just one winner. He grabbed a handful of names.
By this time I was starting to think maybe
I should just get Josh to pick a name.
But I decided to give little Noah one more try.

Drawing #3
Way to go Noah!
He put his hand in the basket and
came out with just 1 name this time!

Yay! Congratulations Kaki!
You won the coffee cozy & Starbucks gift card!

Send me an email or get a hold of me on facebook
and tell me what color {pink or brown} cozy you would like
so I can send the gifts to you!

Thank you to every person who took the time
to comment and tell me what you are thankful
for. I loved reading all of your comments!

Thank you God

Thank you for these three boys.

Thank you for being faithful & true.

You made the Heavens, the earth,
the trees, the flowers, & the birds.

You made me, my family, my friends.
You made everyone important to me.
Thank you God.

You are my provider.
You give me freedom & peace.
You give me a hiding place.
You give me a rock to stand on.
You give me life.
Thank you God.

You are my deliverer.
My strength when I am weak.
My refuge when I am afraid.
You are my joy when I am sad.
You are my hope when all is lost.
My light amidst the darkness.
Thank you God.

I worship you my God.
I raise my hands to you my King.
I shout to you my Lord.
I cry to you my Savior.
I praise you my Creator.
I sing to you Almighty.

Because of who you are,
I give you you thanks.

Walk Tall

I just took black beauty, oh I mean Einstein {that's one of his many nicknames}, out to go potty, and wow it is cold outside!! Brrrr! It is really starting to feel a bit like winter now. Goodness gracious. What a nice change from June, July, and August 100+ degree weather. I think I kinda like it. I'll take it over the scorching heat any day.

Anyway, do any of you feel like you can never get your house in order or even clean for that matter? I do. When we moved I had good intentions. I mean, it was a fresh start. I had a clean slate to organize and have some kind of order in our home. Well... that didn't exactly happen. You should see our closet. Total disaster. It looks like a tornado swept through. I seriously, well kind of, want to move again so I can try again. But that's probably not gonna happen for a while, so I seriously need to get in deep clean mode and get this house in order.

Well tonight was not the night. I did not have an ounce of motivation to deep clean. My closet and a few other places in the house remain in filth {I'm spilling my dirty secrets here}, but hey at least my kitchen and living room are in perfect order. Did I seriously just ramble on about cleaning the house for two paragraphs? I'll stop now. But does anyone feel that way? Or is it just me?

In the midst of my surface cleaning tonight, I noticed something. I had been vacuuming the living room for a few minutes, and suddenly I realized Noah was walking! I mean really walking! Not just walking from one object to another, but walking all over the house. How did that happen? I couldn't believe my eyes. My big boy was walking tall, and doing so confidently. Wow. And of course, being his mommy and a little biased, I think he is the cutest walking baby alive. And you know by now my video camera was near by to capture these steps of confidence. What a proud mommy I am tonight.



Look at him go! How sweet. I'm loving the saggy diaper. Haha.

I have loved reading all of the "thankful" comments coming in for the Giveaway post. If you don't know about the Giveaway, you need to know, because I am giving away some fun goodies. So, click here if you want to read about it. I want everyone to comment {yes family, you are included} so join in and tell me what you are thankful for. Hope you all are having a wonderful week!

I've got the Biggest Loser to watch tonight, so I've got to go! It's gonna be good.

Good night!

Giveaway

I've been inspired...

...by a lovely fellow blogger.

She won a contest, and then thought it

would be fun to host her own.

The prize: a custom holiday card design!

They are adorable; you really should check them out.

So, I've decided to steal her idea {thanks Cynthia}, and host my very own contest for my faithful blog readers. Because well, you deserve something nice. Sounds like fun, huh? I think so. My prize isn't anything creative like a custom holiday card design, but I'm pretty sure you're gonna like what I have for you.

Etsy is one of my favorite sites to shop. Let's just say I've got a slight addiction to the website. Don't even look at the link if you aren't prepared to blow all of your money. I'm serious. Don't do it. Anyway, why do I bring up Etsy? Well, because, I found these lovelies for you there:

They are called coffee cozy sleeves and are found here and here. I love them! What a creative idea. I thought they would go along perfectly with a $5 gift card to:

Noah is pretty excited about this contest idea. He's rooting for you!



Ok. So here is how you can win. Really, it's pretty simple.

Leave me a comment on the blog
{not Facebook so I can keep them in order}
telling me what you are most thankful for.

That's all. I told you it's easy.

Comment and then you're entered in {guys, don't be shy!}.

You have until 11:59 pm November 19th, 2009,
and then Mr. Noah will pick the winner!

If a guy wins, he'll get the brown coffee cozy,
and if a girl wins, she'll get the pink one,
or you can have whichever one you choose.

Good luck!

Dear Noah,

My sweet Noah, how do 14 1/2 months pass by so quickly? How do you grow and change so fast? The other day as I sat and watched you play, the realization of how quickly you are growing hit me like a ton of bricks. It is so exciting and such a blessing to see you grow, learn, and discover, but at the same time it's kinda sad. I don't want you to grow up too fast. I'm so thankful for you--thankful for the moments, the laughs, the snuggles, the kisses--thankful for every moment we have together.

And so tonight I would like to share some of the things you are doing right now, so one day we can look back and remember you at this sweet, precious age.

1. You love blueberries. I think in the past month I've bought 3 bags of blueberries, and you are finishing up bag number 3.

2. You are looking more and more like your handsome daddy everyday.

3. You are starting to chuckle and it is the cutest thing I've ever heard. It makes your Mommy and Daddy laugh every single time.

4. Mr. Noah, you are still very determined to get into Einstein's water bowl because you love to splash his water all over the kitchen floor.

5. You have 7 teeth already!

6. You have become very interested in the trash can the past couple of days. I'm still trying to figure that one out.

7. You have started to clap your hands together, and it is so very sweet!

8. Noah, Noah, Noah, you will only eat bananas if Mommy hides them in your peanut butter sandwich; otherwise, you leave every single banana untouched on your highchair table.

9. You enjoy very much pouring large amounts of water outside the bathtub. Einstein thanks you though.

10. You are starting to sign a couple of words, and when you do Mommy gets very excited about it and starts clapping and jumping up and down.

11. You laugh at yourself every time you sneeze, and it's so funny when you do that.

12. You have started this new break dance move every time your Daddy gets home from work, and it is hilarious! Let's show off some of your dance moves, shall we?



13. You love to hide things... especially balls. The other day I was getting a cooking pot out, and what do I see? Your big blue ball hidden away with all the pots and pans. But the best example I have is when I opened the fridge and found one of your mini basketballs sitting there. Who knows when you put it there and how long it had been chilling in there. You are a sneaky little guy.

14. And last, but not least, you are starting to climb on just about everything. I walked out of the kitchen for a minute, and when I came back I found you right here {the dishwasher door was closed when I left too}:

You are the best, and we love you so much!

We have a Molar & Date Night

Noah finally has his first molar in, and man, it came in with a vengeance. He has been in so much pain this week, even to the point of not being able to sleep. As a mother I often felt a sense of helplessness because Tylenol and Orajel {God-sent medications} didn't even seem to do the trick. Poor, poor baby.

The good news is that Noah has been feeling much, much better! He has been the happiest little guy today; we've had a great day together. I was so happy and very thankful to see his sweet smile and to hear him laugh today. I have sure missed his happy little self lately.

Our day started off early around 7:30 am, which sadly, is becoming our normal rise and shine time. After we ate breakfast and got ready for the day, we went to Bible study, and it was wonderful! We've missed a couple weeks for various reasons, so it was so good to dive back into the word of God and fellowship with the wonderful women in my Bible study group. I wasn't sure how Noah would react to going back to Wee-Care, but he loved it! And he did not even cry once. I am so proud of him. I went in to check on him during a break, and he was just so content and happy playing and eating gold fish. I am so thankful for the opportunity for him to be a part of the children's ministry at Christ Chapel. What a blessing!

Tonight Noah and I had our very first Mommy & Son "date" night, and we had the best time. We shared some enchiladas together {I've been on an enchilada kick lately}, and they were so good! I've never been brave enough to try them at Rosa's, but I was pleasantly surprised how tasty they were. Noah thought they were pretty yummy too, although he is more of a tortilla and queso guy. At one point during our meal I gave him a piece of lettuce to try, and his face was priceless. He was not impressed. In fact, you could tell he thought it was disgusting. I really wish I would have gotten a picture of his face.

After we stuffed ourselves full of enchiladas and tortillas, we ran to Target. I am taking a meal tomorrow to a precious woman in our church who just had a baby. I can't wait to meet little Emily! I've seen pictures, but I can't wait to hold her! Anyway... Target! Of course we browsed around for a while before we went to the food section. Noah was precious. So patient & happy. Target, among many other stores, already has their Christmas stuff out. Christmas is my favorite holiday, but it's so sad how Thanksgiving is overlooked every year. We have so much to be thankful for. I have been trying to come up with something creative {like a thanksgiving tradition} to encourage thankfulness with our family every year. I think it is so important to teach our children to be thankful, not just during the Thanksgiving season, but everyday. So when my creative wheels start turning and I come up with something, I'll be sure to share it with you!

But... I am guilty, and I did purchase two things for Christmas that I couldn't pass up. I mean, aren't these plates adorable?!

I guess I wasn't a very good example to Noah buying these plates, but I just had to have them. Plus Noah needed something to keep him preoccupied! Haha

After looking around for a little bit, Noah started getting to the point where he wanted to stand up in the cart. That's always the point where I start to wrap it up and head over to a check out lane because you can bet a crying fit is about to happen. After wrestling with Noah for a couple minutes and trying to get him to sit down, we compromised and I let him sit sideways in the seat so he could look behind him. I looked at my list of what I needed and put a couple of things in the cart, and then Noah started doing the cutest thing! Occasionally I would pick something up and give it to Noah to hold, but instead of holding on to it he would turn around and drop it into the back of the cart. At one point he even grabbed my shopping list and thew it in the cart. He loved it! Here is Mommy's big helper!

I am so thankful for my little guy. What are you thankful for?

Update on the Hubby

This post will be short tonight, because well, Noah had another rough day of teething and this momma is tired. No, I would say I'm in a pure state of exhaustion.

I've been meaning to share with you some exciting news about Josh. He is now the Associate Pastor for New Life Deaf Fellowship, and I couldn't be more proud of him. {Actually, he's been working as Associate Pastor for a little over a month now, so I'm a little behind on giving everyone the news.} Before he accepted the position, we prayed about it together, and both felt God opened up this ministry opportunity for us. We are excited as a family to be a part of New Life Deaf Fellowship, and are ready to serve the Lord however he leads. We have also felt such a warm welcome from all the members of NLDF, and we are very thankful to all of them for making us feel a part of the family.

Noah and I are very proud of you! You are a wonderful husband, father, & provider. We are so thankful for you and love you!

My bed is calling my name. Night!

Cutting Teeth & the Tooth Fairy

Noah woke up at 7 am this morning. Hoping he might be up for some more zzzz's, I gave him a sippy cup of milk while I changed his diaper, but that wasn't on his agenda. It was time to rise and shine. It seems that since the time change our mornings just get earlier and earlier. But I don't think we can blame this early morning on the recent time change. Noah has several teeth coming through. I honestly think it has been the worst yet, and I think it's the reason he woke up so early. Not even medicine could soothe his aches and pains today, nor did holding him help. I just had to rub his back as he rolled around on the ground crying {breaks my heart}.

Saying we had a hard day today would be an understatement. He was fussy almost all day, and refused to lay down for naps. Noah's a nap boy. Often he will take two 2 hour naps, but not today. It was a long, hard day for the both of us. {Ahem} Oh, and Einstein too.

Cutting teeth is a monster. And why is it they always come in multiples? That just seems to make it that much harder to endure. I just hope tomorrow Noah feels much better and less tears are shed. Poor baby.

Speaking of teeth, I remember growing up how excited I was to loose a tooth. I couldn't wait to place my teeny, tiny little tooth under my pillow, because the next morning I would find a shiny coin in place of where my tooth was. Isn't it funny how little kids get so excited about 25 cents over a tooth? Well I came across the cutest little thing the other day. It is the Official Tooth Fairy Kit from here.



What a cool idea! Why didn't they have things like this when we were growing up?

Well I'm gonna turn in for the night, or at least snuggle up in my bed with Josh {yes, I forgave him} and watch a movie. Sounds nice.

Oh, and here is a recent picture of Noah. Isn't he a sweetie?

Bonsoir!